Unicef News

Surviving HIV: Preventing mother-to-child transmission in Burundi

MURAMVYA, Burundi, 7 December 2017 – “I started to feel quite sick,” says 40-year-old Darlene*, describing a period in her life a few years ago. “After going to a health centre, I was referred to a hospital where I was hospitalized for several weeks. I did not know why I was weak, until they asked me to do HIV test. I was diagnosed as living with HIV,” she says.

The search for Lesotho’s most vulnerable families

HA TŠEPO, Lesotho, 28 November 2017 – A cloud of yellow dust blows into the group sitting on the ground at the village centre. Toddlers run, legs wobbly, to bury their faces in the open arms of their mothers, as the women pull down kerchiefs to protect their eyes. But community mobilizer Tlaleng Maimane keeps talking.

The heroes keeping the water flowing for families in eastern Ukraine

LUHANSK, Ukraine, 21 November 2017 – Inna Krasnyakova was born, raised and married in the small village of Artema, in Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine. In June 2014, she was at work, operating a water pumping unit at the Petrovskaya pumping station, when conflict broke out.

How toilets are saving lives and money in Afghanistan

NILI, Afghanistan, 18 November 2017 – For 23-year-old Fatima, it took the death of one child to spark a simple but transformational change, to convince the whole village to start using toilets and improve the health of many young lives.

Making childbirth safer in South Sudan

AWEIL, South Sudan, 9 November 2017 – Arek Yel Deng had given birth before but she had never experienced such pain. Her labour lasted a week and the pain was so severe she thought she was going to die.

Striving for uninterrupted learning for every child in Mali

Investing in better care during babies' first days is saving lives in Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, 3 November 2017 – “She is the daughter I dreamed to have,” says Nargiza. “When I reach into the incubator, I touch her hands, her legs, to give her my love.” Inside the incubator rests little Omurkal – Nargiza’s first child – who was born at 30 weeks.

Mobile medical teams provide a lifeline for children in Yemen

SANA’A, Yemen, 16 October 2017 – “He is very weak and cannot even walk anymore. He’s lost so much weight.” Muhammad, 50, is desperate when he reaches the mobile medical team. He came on foot, carrying his feather-light son, Yahya, 4, in his arms. Muhammad has seen other children in his village die from malnutrition and he’s terrified the same fate awaits his son.

Hurricane Maria aftermath: Children's education on hold in Dominica

DOMINICA, 13 October, 2017 – Deltin Eugene, 16, stares at the chalkboard at the front of what used to be his classroom at the Goodwill Secondary School. The only words written there are “Friday 15 September 2017”. It was the last day he and more than 18,000 other students in Dominica went to school.